1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal, and more particularly, to a new inclined-type mobile communication terminal that is opened and closed automatically/manually using a link apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Function of the mobile communication terminal is not limited to a communication but its function is widened to cover the Internet, moving image appreciation, and games. For that purpose, a size of a liquid crystal display (LCD) gets larger. Further, the terminal is gradually small-sized to increase portability of a mobile communication terminal.
A folder-type mobile communication terminal enjoys popularity in trends of reducing a terminal's size while increasing an LCD and a slide-type mobile communication terminal is currently on sale in the market.
The slide-type communication terminal includes a first main body and a second main body, and has a slide structure such that the second main body is relatively slid with respect to the first main body to open/close the terminal.
The slide-type communication terminal has a guide fixed to one side of the terminal, for guiding the sliding of the second main body and a slide module including a slider for performing reciprocating sliding motion along the guide. The slider is fastened to a side facing the one side to which the guide is fixed.
For example, in case the guide is provided to a backside of the second main body, the slider is joined to a front one side of the first main body contacting the guide and performs a reciprocating sliding motion together with the first main body.
FIG. 1 is a view illustrating a backside of a slide-type communication terminal of a related art, which will be described below.
The second main body 10 having a display screen (not shown) on its front surface and the first main body 20 having a battery pack 21 joined on its backside are overlapped in parallel with each other and perform reciprocating sliding motion, whereby the terminal is opened/closed. A guide slit 11 is formed on the backside of the second main body 10 and the second main body 10 has a guide (not shown) for guiding the sliding operation therein. The slider for performing reciprocating sliding motion along the guide slides together with the first main body 20.
However, referring to FIG. 1B, in the slide-type communication terminal of a related art, if an upper main body 10 is slid and a lower main body 20 is opened, an antenna 25 mounted on the lower main body 20 gets extremely close to the upper main body 10, thus antenna characteristics is influenced by the upper main body 10.
Further, the above-described manual slide module of the related art should be moved completely for opening/closing, so the module is not easily opened/closed with one hand and is relatively difficult to open/close compared with the folder-type terminal.
To improve the problems during the manual operation of the module, a backside of the slide-type communication terminal of the related art that realizes automatic opening/closing operations is schematically illustrated in FIG. 2.
A slide-type communication terminal of FIG. 2 includes a pinion 75 mounted on one end of the second main body 70; a rack 61 mounted lengthwise on one side of the first main body 60 for being engaged, in form of a teeth-joining, with the pinion 75; a driving motor (not shown) mounted on the second main body 70, for providing driving force; a power transfer part 80 for transferring the driving force of the driving motor to the pinion 75; and a control switch 62 for controlling an operation of the driving motor.
In operation, if a user manipulates the control switch with the second main body 70 closed so that the driving motor may be operated, torque of the driving motor is transferred to the pinion 75 through the power transfer part to allow the pinion 75 to be rotated and the rack 61 engaged with the pinion 75 is moved, whereby the first main body 60 is moved upward and so the opening operation is finally performed.
As described above, though the slide-type communication terminal of the related art that realizes the automatic operation using the pinion 75 and the rack 61 can realize the automatic operation in a simple manner, it is still difficult to open/close the terminal with one hand in realizing the manual operation like the manual slide-type communication terminal of the related art, compared with the folder-type communication terminal.
Further, in the slide-type mobile communication terminal, the first main body 60 and the second main body 70 perform a straight line motion on the same plane and so a receiver and a transmitter form 180°. Accordingly, the slide-type terminal provides inferior communication quality compared with the folder-type terminal and might cause inconvenience to the user accustomed to the folder-type communication terminal of the related art.
Further, similarly with the slide-type communication terminal illustrated in FIG. 1, in case the first main body 60 is slid and the second main body 70 is opened, the first main body 60 extremely gets close to the antenna mounted on the second main body 70. Accordingly, antenna characteristics are influenced by the first main body 60.
Therefore, an opening/closing method different from the type of the related art is required.